5 Lansing children were locked in a 'dungeon' for days, whipped as punishment, police said

According to most recent CDC statistics, an estimated 1 in 4 children in America experience maltreatment at some point in their lives. Here is what to do if you suspect child abuse and how to report it.
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The kids told Child Protective Services investigators they were routinely beaten and threatened with guns. The parents are charged with child abuse.

Sarah Conde (left) and Yenier Conde are charged with 10 counts of child abuse each.(Photo: Courtesy of Ingham County Jail and Michigan Department of Corrections)

LANSING — Five young children, including one with cancer, were locked in what a Lansing police officer described as a "dungeon" and whipped for punishment on and off for at least six years, police said.

Yenier Conde, 32, and Sarah Conde, 28, would lock their children in a dark bedroom with the door screwed shut and locked as punishment, Lansing Detective Pete Scaccia said during a July 18 hearing that led to criminal charges against the couple.

In the room, the children had no food and no toilet, Scaccia said. The children told Child Protective Services investigators they were routinely beaten and threatened with guns. CPS investigators said the Condes stopped taking one child to see his cancer doctors.

The five kids, now ages 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11, were taken from the Condes' care and put into foster care after the full extent of the abuse was discovered in 2017. Their parents were each charged with 10 counts of first and second degree child abuse and unlawful imprisonment on Friday.

Between 2011 and 2017, the Condes subjected their children to physical and verbal abuse and deprived them of medical care, Scaccia said during the hearing.

But the abuse and neglect is documented in Child Protective Services reports as far back as April 2009. CPS was called twice that year, once for improper supervision and once for physical neglect.

CPS was called on the family at least 10 more times before the children were removed from the Condes' care in 2017.

Sarah Conde's attorney, Joseph Brehler, declined to comment on the case Wednesday. She is due to appear in court for a hearing Aug. 3.

Yenier Conde did not have an attorney listed in court records and had no court hearings scheduled.

Bob Wheaton, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said he was not able to comment on a specific case due to state law.

The 'dungeon'

All five children were frequently locked in their bedroom for extended periods of time without food, water or a chance to use the bathroom, Scaccia said.

The Condes gave the kids diapers instead of letting them out to use the bathroom. At times, they had to relieve themselves elsewhere in the room. Even now that the children are in foster care, four still are not fully toilet trained, according to a CPS report.

The oldest boy, now 10, told CPS investigators that he and his siblings would break holes in the walls to try to escape and to pass food and water through.

He told investigators that, at times, their mom had tried to help them escape and given them food and water through a heating vent.

He also told investigators their parents would beat them with a belt if the children tried to escape through the vent.

The youngest boy, who is now 6, told investigators he was locked in the bedroom by Yenier Conde for "a bunch of days" without food or water. It was dark, and he was scared. He had to go to the bathroom in the closet.

During a Child Protective Services investigation, Yenier Conde said "if locking the kids was a crime, then...he'll take whatever's coming his way," Scaccia said.

When investigators searched the house, they saw the room had a boarded up window, multiple holes in the wall and an open vent that led from one bedroom to another. The outside door had wooden slabs and screws to allow it to be locked from the outside.

Time spent in the room varied, but one boy told investigators it could range from 10 hours to two days.

Although Sarah Conde denied knowing the kids were locked up, Yenier Conde told police that he built the door to the bedroom at his wife's request.

Missed cancer treatments

The second oldest child, who is now 10, was diagnosed with a type of neuroblastoma cancer as a baby.

Before his second birthday, he was in remission. CPS was called in April 2009 because the home was filthy and the conditions may have been detrimental to his health, according to CPS records.

In 2012, when the boy was 5, someone told CPS his parents weren't taking him to his doctor appointments. He completed cancer treatment in July 2011 and had missed multiple appointments and follow ups since then, according to CPS records. He saw four specialists and should have seen each every three months.

Four months later, CPS again was called on a report that the child had been taken to school with a dirty diaper and no clean ones were sent with him. The cancer left him with physical ailments that caused him to need a diaper, according to a memorandum included in the court file from the Condes' divorce, which was finalized earlier this year.

Because of those ailments, he needed a leg brace and specialized shoes to help with his gait, according to CPS records. He was fitted for a brace once but never got new ones as he grew.

Although he struggled and complained of pain, Sarah Conde requested the school remove him from special education programs and physical therapy treatments. She told the school she had no orthopedic concerns.

Sarah Conde reportedly told the boy that "if he has another accident, he would be put in a garbage truck," records show.

A violent household

When CPS interviewed the three oldest children in May 2017, they told investigators they had witnessed domestic violence for much of their lives.

One boy said his dad had been taken away by police because "he was going to kill us," according to the CPS petition. The kids said they'd seen Yenier Conde hold a gun to their mother's head multiple times.

Sarah Conde filed a personal protection order against her husband after he filed for divorce in April 2017 and said he abused her. She was so scared of him, she wrote, that she was living in her car at the time of the filing because she didn't want to go home.

The violence wasn't only between Sarah and Yenier, the children said. One boy reported that he had been beaten with a piece of wood with nails in it. One of the girls had a scar on her butt from a spanking.

When the kids flooded the bathroom with water, Sarah Conde lined them up and pointed a loaded gun at them, according to the CPS petition.

"She almost shot us. She made us stand in a line," the oldest boy said. "She was laughing with her gun. She was about to shoot us. She said, 'Stand in a line so that the blood can spill on (the oldest boy) and then (he) can come up front and I can shoot him.'"

She showed the kids the bullets in the gun and pointed it at the youngest child's face, according to the CPS petition.

Then she pulled the trigger.

The gun jammed. Nothing happened.

"I was scared," the youngest child, now 6, told investigators. "She clicked on the gun...She wasn't even playing on it. I was scared because I was afraid that she was going to shoot us."

Sarah Conde told the kids they got lucky, then ordered them back upstairs, one child told investigators.

A psychologist who examined Sarah Conde said her scores on some tests indicated she may have a "low frustration tolerance, tendencies to be impulsive, poor ego development, and prone to increasing levels of coercive discipline as stress increases."

The business' website says she weans puppies from their mother right next to her bedroom and cares for them bedside and that all the dogs have full access to every part of the house and the fenced-in backyard.

Yenier Conde told CPS investigators his wife "would care for the dogs at the expense of the children."

The divorce

As the CPS investigation progressed, Sarah and Yenier's marriage fell apart. Sarah accused Yenier of cheating on her. She started dating another man, according to divorce paperwork. Yenier Conde filed for divorce.

Although both accused the other of abusing the children, both asked for joint legal custody.

Initially, CPS aimed to reunite the children with their parents. But as the investigation progressed, and the Condes went through classes, treatment and further interviews, investigators decided the children would be better off if they weren't with their parents, according to the CPS petition to terminate the Condes' parental rights.

They lost custody of the children in June.

A psychiatrist and psychologist who evaluated the children said all five suffered serious psychological abuse and had thought and mood disorders. Two of the kids were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and all have thought and mood disorders, Scaccia said.

Three of the children had not seen a dentist in years and had rotting teeth that needed to be extracted, he said.

Yenier Conde was sentenced to probation for larceny and embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000 in 2013.

During a CPS home visit last year, officials found three guns, which, as a convicted felon, he was not supposed to have. He now faces two charges of possession of a firearm as a felon and two felony firearm enhancements.

Sarah Conde is also charged with felonious assault and a felony firearm enhancement.

Yenier Conde had two previous charges of second degree child abuse and unlawful imprisonment from October 2017, but both were dismissed in Ingham County Circuit Court.

Sarah Conde is in custody at the Ingham County Jail. Her bail has been set at $50,000. Yenier Conde was taken into custody Friday morning by Lansing police.

Contact Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.